The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) announced that it is moving its headquarters from Abuja to Lagos, its original base, for the benefit of the Authority and the nation.
Mrs Obiageli Orah, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN, issued a statement on Thursday stating that the decision was made after extensive discussions with stakeholders, including aviation unions.
She said that the public had asked about the directive of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, to relocate the Authority to Lagos, where it had been operating for many years until recently.
She cited the absence of office spaces for those who initially relocated to Abuja as one of the reasons for the move back to Lagos.
She also said that the staff who came back to Lagos were receiving station allowances because their official postings were in Abuja, but they were working from Lagos, resulting in revenue losses.
“It was ill-advised in the first place to move the headquarters to Abuja when there was no single FAAN building in Abuja to accommodate all of them at once.
“Having returned to Lagos, the Authority would be liable to pay them DTA (Duty Tour Allowance) because technically they are working out of the station as their official posting is to Abuja.
“The Minister has decided to stop this waste of public resources and rip-off on the public purse.
“The other option open to the Authority was abandon the old FAAN building in Lagos to rot away and to use its scarce resources to rent an office space in Abuja for Millions of Naira of public money when in actual fact more than 60 per cent of its activities are in Lagos given the huge passenger volume of the Lagos airports.
“The stakeholders and the Minister decided against that and to save the country this waste,” she said.
Orah said that the Minister had started plans to get concessionaires to construct suitable offices for the Authority in both Lagos and Abuja.
She clarified that after the completion of the project, a final decision would be made on the final location of the corporate headquarters.
She added that in the meantime, FAAN will continue to use its old buildings in Lagos which could house all its Directors and senior officials.
“Abuja continues to have full operational offices and the Authority has not scaled down operations in Abuja one bit.
“It is just the technical decision of where the Authority has its ‘corporate headquarters’ that has been taken without affecting the structure of operations as they are for now in both cities.
“In the near future, when befitting corporate buildings have been built for the Authority in both Lagos and Abuja, a final decision will be taken as to the location of the permanent headquarters, depending on the exigencies of the time.
“The Authority wishes to assure members of the public that it will continue to act in their best interest and that of the country.